Multiple Attachment figures

Multiple Attachment figures

1. Is there too much focus on the mother?

   • Feminist critique
     • Parental behaviours are informed by culture, historical and cultural values, not just biology. The idea of exclusive care from the preferred attachment figure places too much pressure on that attachment figure without the support from society. Bowlby's views were influenced too much by the idealisation of motherhood post WW2, just to get women back into the house and out of jobs. Anthropology shows that childcare is often shared by a group of adults. Maternal care is important but not the only care
   • Rutter (1981)
     • Antisocial behaviour has a stronger link to family discord than materal deprivation. Shifts the focus onto the entire family
     • Doesn't matter who the child is mainly attached to
     • "A less exclusive focus on the mother is required, children also have fathers!"
   • Women worked in the mills in the north for generation, no north-south divide in the children
   • Mary Ainsworth stated that multiple caregivers is a desirable prospect, as long as the care is continuous it doesn't matter who the caregiver is

2. Father's attachment

   • Bowlby made no mention of fathers in his 1958 theory, but interest in fathers soon emerged early on in the theory's development
   • Bowlby (1988) Ainsworth (1985) Both parents are attachment figures, mother is just usually the first object of attachment, after a few months the child will attach to others often present in their lives
   • When both parent present, an infant will attach in the same way with both paresnts (Fox et al, 1991)
   • Grimes (2002) child's attachment to father related to father's perception of martial quality, time spent together, attitudes towards parenting, and attachment with their own parents
   • Blankenhorn, (1995) Father's emotional involvement with a child is imperative for the development of internal security and overall wellbeing in virtually all human societies
   • Elderege 2001, research supports the view that a father has signigicant influence on the identity development of their child
   • Greenspan (1982) describes the father as the one who introduces the child to the world beyond the mother

3. Role of grandparents

4. Impact of daycare

5. Role of siblings

6. What else can be added to the lit?